I'm going to guess it's not about leadership. From the Lex Fridman interview he claims to be personally involved in all hires - and spend a good fraction of his time evaluating candidates.
- He's not going to hire someone he doesn't like
- Someone that doesn't like him is unlikely to join his team
So it's very likely the whole staff ends up being people that "like" him or get along with him. He did come off as a charming smooth talking - and I'm sure he has lot of incredibly powerful friends/connections. But at least from that little window into his world I didn't feel he showed any particularly brilliance or "leadership". He did seem pretty deferential to ML experts (which i guess he's not) - but it's hard to know if it's a false humility or not
It's also an unvalidated claim, predicated upon assumptions.
I've hired people I "don't like" on a personal level. I care more about their ability to work positively with oters, and their professionalism and skill.
Yet you and the parent poster have assumed he is hiring a cult, because he spends time evaluating?
Why is your argument from authority relevant at all here?
1. For that matter, I would not work with a boss who doesn't recognize an argument from authority as a response.
2. Furthermore a boss who lacks critical thinking skills and can't recognize a mildly skeptical comment for what it is.
3. Why assume I'm rigidly taking any position re. Altman in particular?
4. "That's pathetic" is not "He's pathetic", so perhaps the problem here is your low reading comprehension level, and not any particular assumption that I have committed to at all.
5. "A weird assumption" -- so, you decide it's weird because you just read it wrongly? Or, if something seems weird, why not ask a curious question and find out? Listening skills? Why is it so important to make this about another commenter?
I find your poor faith interpretation of my comment to be offensive. You've at the used your professionalism as pretense to biasedly cast judgment on what is a critical or even mildly skeptical general remark. This reflects the bad side of tech culture. You should apologize.
Buddy, trying to pretend your comment didn't exist in the contextualized space it did, when you replied, is not viable. And your response is way out in left field.
oh sorry - I didn't mean it in a nefarious way at all
I think it's just human nature to not hire people you feel you won't get along with. If you're deeply involved in all your hires, then I feel you'll end up with an organization full of people that you get along with and who you like (and probably like you back). I wouldn't go so far as to say it'd make a personality cult - though with their lofty mission statements and ambitions to make the world better.. who knows. Not going to psychoanalyze a bunch of people I don't know
"I've hired people I "don't like" on a personal level."
I'm honestly impressed... I feel that's rather exceptional. I feel a lot of hiring goes on "gut feeling"
Perhaps my gut feeling is just tuned more towards competence, than personality sync? I often find lacking competencies to be more jarring than variant personalities.
- He's not going to hire someone he doesn't like
- Someone that doesn't like him is unlikely to join his team
So it's very likely the whole staff ends up being people that "like" him or get along with him. He did come off as a charming smooth talking - and I'm sure he has lot of incredibly powerful friends/connections. But at least from that little window into his world I didn't feel he showed any particularly brilliance or "leadership". He did seem pretty deferential to ML experts (which i guess he's not) - but it's hard to know if it's a false humility or not